Marketing

Ecology

Biology

Tourism geography

Developing country

Small Island Developing States

Tourism

Archaeology

Economics

Sustainable tourism

Business

Small island

Economic geography

Regional science

Climate change

Geography

Political science

Public economics

Environmental resource management

Ecotourism

Sustainable development

Economic growth

Ecosystem services

Ecosystem

Tourism Management

Tourism development is crucial for economic growth in Small Island Developing States, but its management involves trade-offs between ecosystem services and social and cultural identities. This paper aims to contribute to the debate around the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through an investigation of the sustainable management of tourism and coastal ecosystem services. The paper presents a choice experiment and latent factor analysis to disentangle relevant aspects of sustainable tourism in Small Island Developing States for potential visitors. Willingness to pay is reported for the different factors revealing preferences variability for previous and prospective visitors. Pro-environmental attitudes influence individual tastes and policy makers should consider these traits in order to attract visitors and private funding. Our findings show that prospective tourists are interested in the wider aspects of the tourism experience which in turn require the careful management of social and environmental resources in Small Island Developing States.

Prospective tourist preferences for sustainable tourism development in Small Island Developing States